...as well as other various ramblings and way too many photos brought to you by their mother who is nearly crazy with love for them (she means that in every sense of the word...;-)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Walsh Farm

Saturday, we went to Walsh Farm, which is a family owned and run farm filled with fall fun. (boy, that was a lot of "f's" :) Our intent was to get our pumpkins, but we came away with a really memorable experience too!

When we got there, Ben was immediately taken with all the hay bales which formed a maze and a tunnel. He ran straight into the maze and was so pleased to find his way to the end all by himself.

Then he thought the tunnel looked interesting, and investigated that too.

Xavier enjoyed sitting on the hay bales and watching all the kids run through the maze. Check out the "no hands" sitting!

A bunch of kids started playing "follow the leader" walking on top of the hay bales, and Ben got into the fun. Here he is about to jump from one bale to another. Does he have a future as a stunt man leaping across the tops of tall buildings?? Maybe...but I sure hope not!

After that we were off to the petting zoo, with baby cows, lambs, goats and donkeys. Practically all the animals came to investigate Xavier's wagon, which was apparently very interesting to them. Especially the goats and donkeys. Ben zoomed back and forth between all the animals, but had a particular liking for the goats. Mainly because they were too lazy to move away from him. :) Xavier loved all the animals and giggled continuously at them.

Farmer Ben:Farmer Xavier:

Next, we ventured over to a big play area filled with about 6" of dried corn kernels. It was a dusty mess...but so worth it. The boys were both thrilled with this novelty! Ben enjoyed sliding down a slide that ended in the corn and filling up buckets then dumping them onto toys (thankfully NOT other kids, like some kids were doing...I was proud of Ben for not taking part in that activity). Xavier had the time of his life sitting in the corn, listening to and watching all the kids, and sifting through the corn with his hands.

Xavier was mad when I picked him up out of the corn (he whacked me on the head a few times and yelled at me :) but that was short lived, because our next stop was the hay ride. The ride included lots of bumps, which Xavier is always very fond of. He screamed and laughed with delight practically the entire time. Ben had a great time throwing off little handfuls of hay and looking at all the birds flying overhead.

Here's Xavier on the hayride, laughing at a bump:

And Benny looking inquisitive:

Me and the boys on the hayride:

After the hayride, we picked out pumpkins. Ben thought they made great chairs. He picked out 2 small pumpkins, one for him, and one for Xavier, and then Xavier got to "carry" them in his wagon.

On our way out, we were treated to a great surprise! A med-flight helicopter landed in a field by the parking lot to pick up a rescue crew for training purposes. The area was roped off, but we were fairly close to the landing site. I wasn't sure how Xavier would do with that, but we thought we'd give it a shot...and he LOVED it. I'll never forget the look on his face as the helicopter took off - complete joy. His hair was plastered down (as was all of ours) and he had this big open mouth smile on his face. He clapped all the way back to our car. And of course Ben was completely overwhelmed with happiness too. He said, "Daddy, I got to see a helicopter. It was SO cool!" That last statement pretty much sums up the whole outing! :)